I had Ray Dewey on my podcast today. I had him on a couple of years ago (episode 259) and we went through his life story, from his childhood up until he closed his gallery in Santa Fe, which was one of the best Southwest art galleries of all time.

Well, he happened to be in Tucson today so I asked him if he'd do another podcast and he obliged. Ray loves Maynard Dixon just like I do so we always have plenty to talk about. In fact, he had a Maynard Dixon and Ed Mell show in 1985. Really the first Dixon/Mell show that was ever done like that. He was a great friend of Ed's and had represented Ed for years.

So in this podcast we talked about the people that have come in and out of Ray's life. There's a variety of interesting people and artists from R.C. Gorman to Allan Houser to Louise Nevelson to Charles Loloma. We also spoke about his relationship with Nat Owings, who was one of these great art dealers of Santa Fe and someone that we hope to have on the podcast sometime soon.

I can't not mention Ray's wife, Judy, who worked in the gallery for 20+ years running the backend of the business (just like my lovely wife Kathleen does for Medicine Man Gallery) which is so immensely important. We don't succeed without the Judys and Kathleens in our lives.

So, you know, if you really want to know the backstory of the Santa Fe art scene and the players that made it happen, then you have to listen to Ray Dewey on episode 343 of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.

When people that I'm interested in talking to come into my gallery, I want to grab them and take them to my studio and talk to them. Well, lucky for me, Robert Sommers walked into my store today. He's a long time friend, a very knowledgeable art dealer, and the owner of Blue Heron Gallery.

I had recorded a podcast with him seven years or so ago, but we'd always talked about doing another one, and this one was a completely different podcast than our first one. Robert's background is covered in that one, and sure we touch on his origin story a little in this one too, but I just kind of wanted to find out the path that he's been on since the first podcast and how he's seeing and interpreting the art world in 2025.

He's been doing this for 50 years so it was a good conversation - definitely less of an interview when compared to a typical episode of the podcast. We talked like two old friends do, rehashing our lives, what we've done professionally and how we've intersected through the years.

Robert is just such a unique, brilliant individual. He's a very talented writer, an awesome photographer, and a storied art dealer. He's just one of those people that you want to talk to and spend time with. I don't even know how long we talked, I just had an enjoyable conversation with somebody who's knowledgeable, loves what he does, and hopefully you'll enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

I had Kathryn Haigh on the podcast today and she is the President and CEO of the Eiteljorg Museum, which is one of my favorite museums in North America. The reason being, for one thing, it's a beautiful building inspired by Ancestral Puebloan architecture. It was founded by Harrison Eiteljorg in 1989 and he put this magnificent collection of Western and Native Art together.

I'm happy to say the museum has continued Harrison's mission. It's a large museum on seven acres in Indianapolis, and they have an incredible Indian market every year in June. They also have an event called Quest for the West, which is a Western fine art show that takes place in September of every year. I've gone to those events and they're terrific.

And Katie's story, of course, is fascinating. She's a creative and intellectual person who grew up in Cincinnati, and was propelled into the museum world at an early age. She worked her way up the ranks at the Cincinnati Art Museum, followed by the Fine Arts Museum in Indianapolis, and now she runs the Eiteljorg. So she's quite experienced to say the least.

Needless to say, the Eiteljorg is definitely a bucket list museum. To get to speak with the person in charge of such an institution and to really understand how their operation works, and what they're trying to accomplish... It was excellent. There's just some really amazing things in the works over there.

So I found it fascinating. Just understanding the path of a museum director and what one does with that level of responsibility. I've spoken to many people in positions of leadership in the museum word but this interview was very unique. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. This is Kathryn Haigh on episode 341 of the Art Dealer Diaries Podcast.